here and join them . >> all right. this is a meeting of the recreation and park commission. could the clerk please call the roll. [roll call] >> clerk: and commissioner low is on his way. we do have a few announcements today -- oh, there he is. perfect timing. okay. this is the january 17, 2019 meeting of the recreation and park commission. happy new year, and we welcome everyone here today, but we do ask you that you turnoff any sound producing devices that may go off during the meeting. we would also ask you that you take any secondary conversations you may want to have outside. if you would like to speak on an item today, we speak, but we

do not require, that you complete a blue card. unless otherwise announced by the -- or actually announced by the president, how many minutes do you want -- >> how many people here intend to testify on an item today? all right. i think, then, we are going to go to a two-minute per person, and if you have a presentation that's longer, you might combine with somebody else to give you that amount of time. >> clerk: okay. so everyone heard, two minutes for public comment on each item today. if there is an item of interest not on the agenda and is under the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission, you may speak under general public comment. that is item four, and it will be continued on item 18. when you address your comments to the commission, please note that in order to allow equal time for all, neither the commission nor staff will respond to any questions during

public comment. the commission may ask questions of staff after public comment is closed. if the fire alarms activate, you must evacuate the building in an orderly fashion using any exit. please note that the elevators will immediately return to the first floor and are not available for use. if you need assistance out of the building, please make your way to the closest area of refuge, which is directly across the haul in the -- hall in the men's rest room. inside the rest room is a speaker box. press the button, and security will answer. let them know where you are, and they will assist you. we are going to be taking item 17, the outside lands item, out of order. so it will follow item seven, the san francisco zoo, so we're going to move that out of order up a bit. so with that, we are on item 2, the president's report. >> thank you very much, i'll be

brief given the number of people here to testify. some beginning year administrative items. i want to announce that commissioner kat anderson will be joining the operations committee as its new chair, and commissioner mcdonald will be returntion to the zoo committee -- returning to the zoo committee at its chair -- as its chair, and that's my report. >> clerk: okay. any public comment on item 2? seeing none, item 2 is closed. item three, the manager's report. >> good morning. just a few announcements. this saturday, the commission is proud to partner and announce the m.l.k. celebration. it begins with a bayview march at 9:00 a.m.

in addition to honoring dr. king on saturday, volunteers will help make public parks in san francisco's bayview neighborhood more safe, accessible and welcoming for all. volunteer tasks include weeding, pruning overgrowth, planting, mulching, and general park maintenance. there are a number of celebrations honoring dr. king on the farm. monday, january 21, saturday, january 26 at the mclaren community garden. to register for or find out more information about all of the volunteer opportunities, please e-mail

recparkvolunteer@sfgov. informations on job opportunities with our organization but also with the u.s. post office, the airport, the fire department, sheriff's department, and actually several other agencies will be available as well as job training resources and application assistance. for more information, please see our website at sfr sfrecpark.org. you're going to hear a little bit more from derek chu later in the meeting, but we are going to be hosting two meetings. we invite everybody to learn about this year's budget instructions for fiscal years 2019 and 2020 and 2021, to hear our preliminary plans and how

they align with our strategic plans, and most importantly so we can hear from the community about its priorities for neighborhood parks. again, more information can be found on our website. on this cold, wet, rainy weekend, it's tough to be thinking about summer, but let's do it. we can get a jump start on summer at the city's annual summer resource fair to be held on saturday, february 9, at the county fair building in golden gate park from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., featuring representatives from 150 summer camps, classes, programs, and services for toddlers to teen, including more than 80 rec and park summer camps, but there is a collaboration between the department of children, youth, and family, and the mayor's office where a number of agency service providers come together for a families so it can be a little bit of a one-stop shopping as families begin to think about summer. the fair is also going to feature a kids zone from rec

and park, so there'll be some recreation there, the san francisco public library's puck mobile, lots of give aways, and good family fun. it's free, everyone is welcome. no registration necessary, just show up at the county fair building from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on saturday, february 9. okay. we do have some recognition and acknowledgements today. i am really, really thrilled to be able to recognize the team from hunters point family. joining us today isle lina milr and h.p.f. director ron wilson. and more people are coming. come quickly because it's happening now, but two very important people are here from h.p.f. hunters point family has become one of our most important park partners helping us all throughout our park system, but in particular, making a huge difference right here at civic

center, we just wrapped up an amazing center with our ice skating rink. the bike cafe is now three to four months old. if you haven't noticed, civic center plaza is becoming a park. there really have been some remarkable improvements and as our commission president likes to point out, victory has many parents. this is true. there are a lot of reasons why civic center is doing well, but none is as -- any more important than our friends at hunters point family. every day, seven days a week, hunters point family civic center commons steward support families using the plaza and playground. they have become a truly vital resource for the mrs.s, for our

organization, for families, for soccer teams, in addition to greeting each person and welcoming them to the playgrounds, the stewards help the area by keeping the playgrounds clean, watching out for bad behavior, and treating everyone who visits civic center, regardless of their status or place in life or challenges of the day with respect. the 22 civic center common stewards work closely with park staff, with park rangers, with the civic center c.b.d., with the police department to identify situations before they escalate into larger problems. and really, because of their actions, the general public is frankly rarely aware of potential issues because they have been to proactive and forward thinking, allowing families, kids really -- to

really enjoy the space. one of our park supervisors in civic center katie poyle, recently shared. she can't i can't speak highly enough of hunters point family. they've assisted me numerous times in difficult situations, and not only do they make the public feel safer, they make our staff feel safer. on a personal note, i couldn't be more grateful and have more appreciation to hunters point family. you guys have really become a part of our team, a lot of our family. you are really making a difference out there, and what i love is you do it with so much respect, and you do it with dignity and professionalism and reliability, and we are very, very proud to call you our partner and our friend. so lina, ron, everybody come on up. we want to thank you for your efforts on the civic center,

commend you on a tremendous job. [applause] >> maybe have you say a few

words. >> -- and i know and used to work in city hall under willie brown for about four years, and it used to look a lot different. in -- and for the first time since i think our -- our stewards have been out there, everyone can feel safe. you have children playing out there, even folks who are unhoused, you have city

workers, everyone out there, and everyone can be in that space together, and it's safe. and these are miracle workers. these are guys that are out there every single day. louie, who's our director, there is our deputy director. you know, i'm just -- i'm having an old lady moment, james, you know, these are the guys that are really doing amazing work that frankly -- and i'm still amazed by it. i want to feel proud by it, but i'm still in awe of the work that you done. so i know louie, you going to take it home for me. >> good morning. i wanted to say thank you, and the community of san francisco as a whole, that we feel it's an honor and a privilege to serve this community. when i -- many years ago, i did some wrongs in my life, and some people cared for me when i

didn't care about myself, and that gave me an opportunity to take it and move it forward and start to care for people who may not at the time be caring for themselves, but they're human beings, and they have lives, and phil reaches out and says we want everyone to be welcomed here in this park, and when i say everyone, i mean everyone. of course we negotiate negative behavior at times because there's not some things you do here in this space. but one thing you will do is enjoy from agape love and enjoy the opportunity. so i want to say to elena who's a practitioner of restorative justice to me, as well as phil, and i want to acknowledge that. i took my remorse, and i had an opportunity through lina miller to birth it into action. my remorse is there, although i don't feel as much remorse today as i used to, i know it

lives in a new body. so i thank the city of san francisco to birth or remorse into action and to change the city and the space. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. we won't force you to stay for the whole meeting if you don't want to, but we look forward to working with you in the future. >> yes, please, and we'll see you out in the plaza. >> phil, before you continue, could we please ask everyone to take a seat. >> and then, as we always do, we'll conclude the general manager's report with a brief look at last month in parks, which is really a 2018 highlight video.

>> happy new year, commissioners, and that concludes the general manager's report. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment under the general manager's report? okay, being none, this item is

closed. we're now on item four, which is general public comment, up to 15 minutes. at this time, members of the public may address the commission on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission and that do not appear on the agenda. with respect to agenda items, you will have the opportunity to address the commission when the item is reached in the meeting. so i'm going to go ahead and call off the names -- and remember, we are at a 15-minute limit. so we have brendon, scott, warren -- come on up -- regina, and paul to start with. >> good morning, everybody. my name is brendon simon, i'm an actor, an educator, and a sumba teacher in san francisco. i'm also an advocate for

douglas park. we're here to talk about some of our concerns about upper douglas dog park and hopefully get some resolution. we are an official san francisco friends group. two-thirds of us were living around the park before it became a dog park, and we -- many of us own dogs. we are -- many of us are dog owners. we love dogs, and we also want to really highlight that we do have some concerns about what's happening in the park and hopefully see some changes so we can enjoy the park. a little bit about upper douglas park right now. it's the largest dog park of its kind in san francisco, and it borders homes on three sides with unlimited views for off-leash dogs in a fenced-in area. it's the largest park of its kind in the entire state of california, but it's treated like a small dog park, and the

result of there are serious human injuries happening, traffic, fender benders, physical and verbal harassment, and even restraining orders issued against park goers. we could talk about all of that, but i want to talk briefly about what we're hoping to get accomplished today, and i think they're some pretty common sense things that we can all agree to. the first one is park hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and the other thing is for us to have a truly shared use space, which is something that the commission itself decided would be best practice for the space, meaning areas where people and dogs don't need to be there at the same time. >> clerk: thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> clerk: next speaker. >> hi. my name is scott. i've lived at 27th street for six years now, and i'm going to

play a video, so video and sound, please.

[video] >> clerk: you're at time. you need to stop it.

okay. next speaker, please. i have ward smith -- oh. >> if you want to continue the video for their time, why don't you keep going. >> i cede my time. >> okay, yeah, keep going. >> clerk: okay.

[video] >> clerk: you're at time. so next speaker. i have scott, i have regina, i have paul. >> hi. i'm regina. >> clerk: okay. >> thank you for letting us have our voice today. as the video demonstrates, the situation in the park has gotten very challenging for the direct neighbors because of this constant noise, traffic problems every day, and lack of enforcement by the city for lack of resources, i assume.

per the city's own recommendations, dog parks should not exist within 300 feet of residences, yet this diagnose park og park is 40 feet of our residences and bedroom windows. the city has informed us in the meetings that we've had in the past year that there's no effective way to enforce its own rules, federal, or state laws. there seems to be several committees, several organizations that could enforce them, but together, it just doesn't work. that is why it is extremely important for us to establish the new park hours from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in order to make sure that neighbors are not continuously submitted to this very early noise, traffic jams and toxic stress that all

of us go through. we're also asking the city to follow through on its own rules and recommendations, and make the park a shared use park where people can enjoy it, as well, without unnecessarily encountering off-leash dogs in the park. this was what was intended, i want to remind everybody, when it was established. this park was supposed to be a shared use park and not a dog play area, so thank you for your time, and i hope that you will take our plight into consideration. >> thank you. >> clerk: okay. so i have scott, ward, diana.

at 10:36, we're done with public comment unless you want to go further. >> we'll take that up at that time. >> clerk: okay. you have to talk into the mic. okay. please go, sir. >> my name is paul gamari. my wife and i bought our home in the 1200 block of douglas, adjacent to park, in 1979. lived there ever since. we're now retired. we were never officially notified or offered a chance to comment before the park became a single use d.p.a. i and many others used to be able to jog and walk in that park. five times around the field is, in fact, one mile, and upper douglas park, as you know, is the only level area for many, many blocks around. since the d.p.a. was

established, it has never been shared use. you heard the quote from noe valley voice, becky ballinger in 2002, saying that because upper douglas park is less than ten acres in size, a dog run will be needed -- a fenced dog run will be needed for off-leash recreation. no one can use the park without being harassed by dogs and often by professional dog walkers. when eight or ten walkers show up with eight or ten dogs per walker and sometimes more, plus individuals, you can appreciate that there are soon 100 dogs running loose in the park, barking and fighting from 6:00 a.m. until well after dark. we request a qualitative use of

our home by creating a mixed use park and fenced dog run. these are aerial views, and we have written circles on them. 300 feet from the house on 27th, 300 feet from the house, midway up 27th. >> clerk: you are at time, sir. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> clerk: okay. next speaker, please. >> hi there. my name is stephen alfaman. i'm also neighbor on upper douglas. >> clerk: can i get you to -- >> speak right into there. >> i'm also a neighbor on upper douglas. two points.

one, this park has become a destination dog park. it's not just that people from san francisco come to this park, people come from all over the bay area because of its unique situation. it's almost five acres that the city set aside, almost five acres for dog use only. there's nothing like this anything else smack middle in a residential neighborhood. it has disrupted our lives. people are retired on our streets, are home all day. they cannot open our windows. it is incredibly disruptive to our lives, and we ask you to address the situation. the fact that this park is being treated like any small d.p.a. that holds five or ten dogs, it's not okay that you keep this park open for 16 hours a day, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at night. the second point i want to make is fdddp, none of those members

live next to the park, none of them are impacted by this park pa, yet they're working with the city to make decisions about this park, and it has gotten to this point where a facebook page with 2,000 followers has vial comments -- vile comments about this. we're being called pieces of shit, we're being accused of trying to poison dogs in park, putting broken glass into the parks to hurt dogs, and the list goes on. as it goes, we now have a restraining order against one, because they say threatened on our neighbored and his child. >> clerk: you are at time. >> it's a toxic situation, and i'd like to ask you -- >> clerk: you are at time. i'm sorry. >> okay. thank you. >> so scott, ward, diane a.

>> so scott ward. i moved in with my partner. this dog park was created without any notice to the neighbors. it has become a magnet since the beginning for professional dog walkers. it's very easy, it's getting dumped there. there are eight dogs into the park without much supervision. th there is -- essentially what the city has done is create a dog kennel in our neighborhood, and it's wrong. i wish if somebody could be done, that you would at least limit the hours to 8:00 to 6:00 and limit the access to professional -- to keep professional dog walkers in another place, such as golden

gate park where there is plenty of space without neighbors being affected. thank you very much for your consideration. >> thank you. i think we have four more cards, so i'm going to extend the public comment so we can get through this section and you won't have to endure the rest of the meeting. >> clerk: so we're going to have -- and maybe you already spoke. so i have scott, diana, stephen, and denise. diana, come on up. >> so my name is diana kerig. i came from new york, bought my home in 1979, as well. i raised my daughter there. they had after school programs and baseball games. i ran the track, as well, to keep in shape. gradually, it turned over to be a dog walking park. we were not informed at all. you heard the noise.

i work at home with very difficult music. to hear this constant barking all day, and we cannot open our windows, it's mentally debilitating to hear that all day long. you just want to scream. people aren't pleasant to us. the dog walkers think we're terrible, and if we ask them, please move the car from the driveways, i had a bag of poop thrown at my door and things like that. most of these people have dogs on my street, and i'm in the middle, 841 27th issues. i spend $15,000 -- spent $15,000 on double-paned windows on the front. you have to open the windows because sometimes it's hot in your house. it's like they have megaphones.

i'm sorry -- is that it? >> you have 30 seconds more. >> any way, would appreciate, like, shorter hours and multiuse park like it used to be. i would love to run that park or little kids again or tai-chi people out there again. thank you for listening. >> thank you. >> clerk: okay. if i read your name off, come up, otherwise, we're going to close public comment. so again, scott, stephen, and denise. if you already spoke, then you cannot speak again. okay. but he used his time for the video. so denise, come on up, and then, i think that's it. >> good morning. i'm denise louie. i'd like to repeat what the counsel told you in 2017, that all trees need to be managed,

yes rec and parks does not manage trees in parks that are not near trails and sidewalks. as i said before, rec and park is sitting on an old tree assessment done in 2012, recommending dozens of trees in glenn canyon be removed or pruned. and in 2012 was just the beginning of several consecutive years of drought, meaning, the trees are even more distressed and unhealthy now. i urge you to take action now when the budget is being discussed and the city has extra money to spend. last year, the diamond heights association held a town hall. rec and park representatives heard neighborhood ask for unhealthy trees and vegetation be removed from the canyon for the sake of reducing fuel for fire which is difficult to fight because it is in the canyon. for a healthy park not infested with the diseases and bark beetles now found on mount

sutro. in april last year, a large tree near a trail in the canyon split down the middle of the trunk all the way to the ground, had to be removed because it was so unhealthy. and in march, i was on o'shaughnessy when on the sidewalk, a large branch crashed to the ground. fortunately, it fell into the canyon. no one was hurt, but those are indications that the trees need to be better managed. thank you. >> clerk: okay. that is it for general public comment. >> so let me make one observation, and then, first thanking the people that show up on the dog issue. i know that it takes time on your schedule and it's an important issue to you. there is no easy solution, but that doesn't preclude us from

my asking the staff to continue to meet with you and to come back to us with any recommendations that may improve the situation, so thank you. >> mr. president. >> clerk: do you -- >> if i could just comment very quickly. >> sure. please. >> -- and say to the neighbors that this is a little bit of a tricky polish, that there is no excuse for -- tricky policy issue, that there is no excuse for people treating you the way that some of the dog walkers have been treating you the way you've communicated with. i think we are engaged in a conversation. you've raised some good ideas and reasonable ideas. i am particularly intrigued by the idea of looking at park hours to make sure that in the mornings and the evenings, there -- you know, that the neighborhood is entitled to a

little bit of a respite. so we're continue to work through with you and with supervisor mandelman and try to identify some -- some policy improvements to mitigate some of the discomfort you're experiencing. >> thank you. >> clerk: okay. we are now on item five, which is the consent calendar. is there anyone who would like to make public comment on the consent calendar? okay. being none, this public comment is closed. commissioners, we do need a motion and a second. >> i would entertain a vote. >> moved. >> seconded. >> okay. all those in favor, [voting] >> so moved. >> clerk: okay. we're on item five, the election of officers. is there any public comment on

the election of officers? being none, public comment is closed. commissioners, you i'm going to go through the process with you. starting with the president, we will need a motion and a second to open the nominations. i will then -- and a vote, and then, i will ask for nominations for president. i will need a second for that. once all nominations have come through, i will close it, and then, we will vote on the nomination for president, and we will repeat that for vice president. so may i please get a motion and a second to open the nominations for president. >> so moved. >> second. >> second. >> clerk: okay. all in favor? [voting] >> clerk: okay. and so now, i'm going to ask for nominations for president. commissioner mazzola? >> thank you. so over the last 1.5 years that i've been on this board, i've gotten to know mark buell, and i've been impressed with his dedication and commitment for this body and commission.

i think he's done a fabulous job is not just coming to the meetings, it's dealing with the staff and public on a daily basis, which he's done, as well, so i'm proud to nominate mark buell for president. >> i'm proud to second that nomination. >> clerk: are there any other nominations? okay. then, i am closing the nominations for president, and all those in favor. [voting] >> clerk: any opposed? congratulations, commissioner buell. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you, commissioner mazzola for your kind words, and commissioner bonilla. and i love the responsibility and i look forward to working with everybody in the next year. >> clerk: okay. and now i need a motion and a second to open the nominations for vice president. >> so moved. >> so moved. >> second. >> second.

>> clerk: okay. all those in favor? [voting] >> clerk: okay. now i need a nomination for vice president. commissioner anderson? >> i would like to nominate -- and i consider this a great honor -- commissioner allen low to the position of vice president of this commission. allen is an all-around great guy, born and raised in san francisco. i did a little research on him and sort of the vin diagrams of all the things that he's been involved in are pretty amazing. not only does he do great work on this commission and is willing to sometimes take on tough subjects and ask pointed questions because he really cares about his community, but he's also a board member of spur. he's also a lawyer who volunteers for the state bar. and perhaps really fun for me is he's a board member of the ymca, so i sometimes see him

when we're both pretending we're working out, but we're really socializing at the ymca. we both attended u.c. hastings college of the law, and we have a very healthy rivalry because he went to berkeley for underg underg -- undergrad -- go bears. i can't say how appreciative i am of his involvement and of his time, and his wife, jane low. we raised our children together, and we're very active in the golden gate mothers group, which is kind of the mafia of moms, and you don't want to mess with them. allen is very supportive of all things family. with that, i would like to nominate allen.

go stanford, beat low. >> and i would be glad to second that. >> clerk: are there any other nominations? okay. i am closing the nominations. with that, all those in favor of allen low as vice president? [voting] >> clerk: all those opposed? okay. allen low is vice president. >> i know commissioner anderson was very hard to nominate a cal guy, but i just do want to say it's harder to be a cal fan these days than to be a dedicated commissioner. >> thank you, thank you. >> clerk: okay. we are now on item seven, san francisco zoo. >>. >> good morning, tonya peterson, director of the san francisco zoo. we will have some slides.

congratulations to the new officers and best wishes, and thank you for all you do for the city. it's not easy sitting on these commissions or general manager let me show you pictures of what our animals did over the holidays. you'll see our staff makes special treats for the animals and putting them in special places to find. that's a lemur almost all the way in his ginger bread house. i thank our staff for these creative treats during the holidays. my house didn't look that cute during the holidays, for sure. as you may know, we've opened a new chimp room and passage. it provides a large indoor space, and with that, we're able to bring in younger chimps, and i'm happy to introduce you to our new male chimp here, gombo.

he's a young chimp, and he will be integrated with the geriatric chimp. we have the oldest chimp in captivity, at 56 years of age. we do have another hand some animal joining us. that's an african kudu. he joins our african savannah exhibit. just a gorgeous animal, and we're glad he's integrating so well in the exhibit. we like to have events at the zoo. we hope people connect with wildlife so they ultimately care and conserve wildlife, and this year, we're really honored to promote our kunikuni pigs. these are the pigs of new zealand. in the 80's, they were down to

50 pigs, and we have a number of them. similarly, in the next event, one sign of animal wellness is mating and breeding, so we celebrate those things at the zoo with woo at the zoo over valentine's day. those are crown cranes, and they're doing their courtship dance in our african savannah. we'll point them out in our tours. we don't call them sex tours, we call them woo at the zoo for our younger generation. we welcome you to the zoo on valentine's zoo and thereafter. also, this is the zoo's 90th year, and we're kicking it off with a promotion, .90 for kids

14 and under. that's a picture of our dentzel, and then lastly, in support of our federal employees during the furlough, we will have free admission for federal employees as long as the shutdown exists. so with that, i finish my report. >> thank you. >> clerk: is there anyone who would like to make public comment on this item? okay. being none, public comment is closed. commissioners, this was discussion only, so we are now going to item 17. outside lands concert, the approval of a second amendment that the city's use permit with another planet entertainment.

>> good morning, commissioners, dai dana ketcham, the director of permit management and preservations. i am here to present before you an agenda item to approve a amendment to the outside lands contract to extend it for an additional ten years and make some other modifications. a little bit of background. in 2009, the recreation and park department entered into an agreement with another planet for production of an annual three-day concert in golden gate park through 2013. in 2012, after a few years of experience, which i'll talk a little bit about, we entered into an amendment extending it for 2020 -- until 20 -- until

2021 and making other changes. today, we are asking to extend it for an additional ten years, and we're doing it at this time as planning it needed three years in -- is needed three years in advance to arrange artists, equipment, and things like that, so delaying it will only hurt the event. going through first some of the benefits we've had to the department from this agreement. first, rent payments. it started in 2008 with a payment of 815,000. 2012, we were at 1.4, almost 1.5 million, and in the most recent year, we are at a little over 3.3 million to our revenue which helps with, as you'll be talking about, budget, with helps with our budget numbers and financing. our revenues are based on

ticket sale revenues, so as prices have gone up, we've been able to benefit from that. there are other benefits to the department. they do a separate annual fundraiser. this was put in the contract in 2012, it's offsite, and all the proceeds from that go to us, and that has contributed 115,000 since 2012. they support a gardener each year, so we've been able to add a gardener to our staff to maintain the grounds. they contribute materials and supplies for the polo field, and all of our overtime for staff is reimbursed, so there's no hidden cost to us. it's not just benefited our department, it's also benefited the city. the cultural fabric of the city has become part of outside lands. it's not just music, it's art, and it's culinary, both food,

wine, and other things. it has drawn over 2 million visitors to the city. in 2018, it was nominated to the top music festival by bill board, and it actually won. and 25% of the attendees are san francisco residents who love and enjoy going to this every year in their back yard. other benefits to the city, they have contributed 10,000 per year -- they've made available 10,000 per year for neighborhood initiatives. they have run something not required by the contract called outside lands works, which is a charitable funds which provides grants to regional music and art programs, and their environmental impact has been one of the best in the world. 92% of waste is diverted, and they keep improving. and i think i'm going to talk about, as we talk about this, this is not something that's static, always looking to improve. and the -- last year, the environmental impact waste diversion went up another 1%.

so the impact. so while it has all these good things, there is an impact, there is an impact on the community. we have to acknowledge that, but we do a lot of planning to try and mitigate that as much as possible. before the event, we meet with community members to talk about improvements and what can be done, we meet with every city department to plan multiple times everything from the police to the fire department to m.t.a. to emergency management and the mayor's office. and they review the site operational plans to identify every year what issues did we have last year and how can we approve -- improve it for next year? more planning. right before, we mail to all residents within four blocks of the ovepark, over 28,000, road

closers, dates of limited access, and event dates. we post on the website the year before the event the dates so people know. they advertise in all of the local newspapers in multiple languages. they provide and we provide big do not block driveway signs, orange ones, that we put out in the neighborhoods that neighbors can then put up in their homes to stop people from blocking driveways. all of these evolved over time. they came from conversations with the community, what can we do better? they have a community hotline to address concerns and complaints that logs and reports out so that we can address those issues. i've spent many hours sitting in the community hotline room, lift -- hearing how they respond to make sure things are happening. and one other thing we've done is we created dedicated bike lanes. as things change, people were concerned that the bake lines were blocked off. in the most recent year, we had

dedicated bike lanes down j.f.k. to provide safety for people who use bikes to get through the park. we don't just plan, we also respond, there's life responses. there are sound monitors to respond to sound complaints, and we'll talk more about this later. they send people out to respond to complaints, report sound levels reported back, and adjusts are made. they -- adjustments are made. they place tow trucks and parking around the community in case someone does something not nice and parks in someone's driveway, and we can clear them out quickly. they have cleanup crews out in the neighborhoods in the surrounding areas, and they have now put portable toilets out there in response to neighborhood concerns of people leaving the festival. and they're putting together a transportation plan that's always evolving, so as alternative transportation like uber and lyft, and we'll talk a

little bit about that -- has developed, the transportation plan has evolved with it. with all that said, there's still an impact, and we keep working it every year. so i want to talk a little bit about the three areas of neighborhood concern, what we're doing, zp what we're continuing to do. the first impact that we hear -- and we had a series of committee meetings, and i'll talk about that, but the first that came up is the access to the park. people talked about how long the park is not accessible due to the setup. it basically it unchanged with the exception of one day since it started, and that is due to our concerns that we wanted more protection of the park before they even started to load in. but the polo field closes starting the monday 11 days prior to the festival. polo field's already closed in the summer because it's a rest period, and that's to start that major infrastructure as well as some of the back hidden road ways where planning

begins. helman and lindley are closed the monday before the event, then, immediately after, they're back open. we've kept bike lanes open on j.f.k. up until the events start so that people can get through. by the weekend after the festival, by that saturday, every meadows is back open. we get them ready for the soccer season just after the festival, so it's timed to work with the community. amplified sounds, so the -- you know, it is a large concert, and you know in 2012, we

imposed large requirements. previously, it had said we'll do commercial reasonable methods to keep noise within the confines. we added some additional provisions. we review the sound plans prior to the festival each year to minimize sound impact. we ensure that the sound systems can be adjusted live in order to ensure that we turn down the sound if we are having particular issues. sound travels differently, depending on the weather, the wind, the artist, and so we have to make live adjustments. they put in place in 2012 in the polo fields, delay tours, which means instead of having just one speakers that's blasting, you have a series of speakers that are timed perfectly to reach through the crowds, and as i said, live

response to crowd complaints. so you'll see from the chart i just put up on the board, we had -- until this past year, we had a complete drop in sound complaints. sound monitoring are dispatched. when they get a complaint, it's routed into the hotline, and a sound monitor is sent out to assess those complaints. it's not just reading on a sound monitor, it's also listening to the bass. the bass doesn't come through on a sound mantor, and that's -- monitor, and that's often what's reported. it's is this something that's a heavy bass, and then, they adjust those, as well. again, sound carries differently based on the particular climate at a specific time. and i have to say our model is something that's being copied elsewhere. we have one of the best models for a big public event sound